Indian Myth and Legend

By Donald A. MacKenzie 

Illustrations by Warwick Goble

Published by The Gresham Publishing Company Limited, London, no date but 1919

First Edition, and rare in this complete condition

Often the binding is loose and some plates missing - not this copy - a very good complete copy

With a colour frontispiece with the original tissue guard, and seven further full page colour one-sided plates, and 32 black and white full page one-sided plates.  

This volume deals with the myths and legends of India, which survive to us in the rich and abundant store-house of Sanskrit literature, and with the rise and growth of Brahmanism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc.

The volume introduces the various sacred works of the Hindus, including the ancient invocatory hymns of the four Vedas, the later speculative and expository “Forest Books” in which “the Absolute is grasped and proclaimed”, and those great epic poems the Rámáyana, which is three times longer than the Iliad, and the Máhábharata, which is four times longer than the Rámáyana.

In no other country have the national poets given fuller and finer expression to the beliefs and ideals and traditions of a people, or achieved as a result wider and more enduring fame. At the present day [1910] over two hundred million Hindus are familiar in varying degrees with the legendary themes and traditional beliefs which the ancient forest sages and poets of India invested with much beautiful symbolism, and used as mediums for speculative thought and profound spiritual teachings. The sacred books of India are to the Hindus what the Bible is to Christians. Those who read them, or hear them read, are believed to be assured of prosperity in this world and of salvation in the next.

To students of history, of ethnology, and of comparative religion they present features of peculiar interest, for they contain an elaborate sociology of the ancient Aryo-Indians, their political organizations, their codes of laws, their high ethical code, and above all their conceptions of God, the soul, and the Universe.

Contents:

INDRA, KING OF THE GODS

THE GREAT VEDIC DEITIES

YAMA, THE FIRST MAN, AND KING OF THE DEAD

DEMONS AND GIANTS AND FAIRIES

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS OF THE VEDIC AGE

MYSTERIES OF CREATION, THE WORLD’S AGES, AND SOUL WANDERING

NEW FAITHS: VISHNU RELIGION, BUDDHISM, AND JAINISM

DIVINITIES OF THE EPIC PERIOD

PRELUDE TO THE GREAT BHARATA WAR

ROYAL RIVALS: THE PANDAVAS AND KAURAVAS

THE TOURNAMENT

FIRST EXILE OF THE PANDAVAS

THE CHOICE OF DRAUPADI

TRIUMPH OF THE PANDAVAS

THE GREAT GAMBLING MATCH

SECOND EXILE OF THE PANDAVAS

DEFIANCE OF DURYODHANA

THE BATTLE OF EIGHTEEN DAYS

ATONEMENT AND THE ASCENT TO HEAVEN

NALA AND DAMAYANTI

WANDERINGS IN THE FOREST

NALA IN EXILE

THE HOMECOMING OF THE KING

STORY OF RAMA: HOW SITA WAS WON

THE RAPE OF SITA

RAMA’S MISSION FULFILLED

INDEX

In the publisher's original pictorial cloth fine binding, in 463 pages. Top edge of the pages is gilt.

There is the very lightest of shelfwear. There is no foxing. There is no sunning to the spine. There is a small neat previous owner's name to the front pastedown. The plates are bright, fresh and crisp - pristine. There are no missing, stained, damaged, creased or loose pages. The spine and binding are solid. It is complete and original.

Measures 16cm x 22cm x 5.5cm.